Around the world, there are a vast number of apparatuses for extracorporeal blood treatment in hospital, clinical and home environments. Due to continuous product development within the field, such as improvement of software and/or hardware, the exact configuration of each individual apparatus may vary greatly. Geographical and regulatory differences also make it virtually impossible to have uniform software/hardware profile of apparatuses, even if they are manufactured around the same point in time.
Efficient data handling, such as gathering of statistical and/or maintenance information of such apparatuses requires up-to date information on the device status and configuration, i.e. knowledge of installed components, software versions etc. Reports on operative irregularities and malfunctions are cumbersome for nurses and hospitals to deal with. Retrieval of device information is time-consuming but necessary to be able to diagnose the problem correctly, given the abovementioned variation of existing software/hardware configurations. As a consequence, service technicians are often sent out to resolve minor issues which could have been handled by clinical staff, had only the knowledge of the device information been sufficient. Also, when waiting for technicians to arrive, the apparatuses may be out of service. If so, apparatuses are unavailable for patient treatment and increase costs and strain on hospitals and clinics. Thus, there is a need for remote retrieval of device information from the apparatuses.
Over time, attempts have been made to facilitate device information retrieval. Solutions include various connections to the interface of apparatuses, such as Ethernet, USB, card slots, etc. However, for security reasons hospitals are reluctant to allow access to their networks and retrieval of information via USB and card slots are cumbersome and require certain skills from the clinical staff, skills which are often not readily available. Thus, even though the apparatuses may be connected to a local network, this is typically not open to remote access.
For these purposes, an apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment is typically not able to establish remote communication channels, since it cannot be connected via wireless networks, due to risk of electronic interference, and at the same time cannot be plugged into land-based networks, accessible from the outside, due to security/privacy restrictions. Thus, an apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment is usually configured to display information on a display via a graphical user interface. This allows for a local visual communication with a user.
However, such local visual communication may often be perceived as disturbing and/or stressful by a user, since it often interferes with normal operation. Error messages suddenly appearing on the display of an apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment are likely to confuse the device operator who may only be trained to handle normal operation of the apparatus.
Hence, an improved system for transferring data related to the operation of an extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus would be advantageous.
There is a need for a new method, apparatus and system for transferring data from an extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus and in particular it would be advantageous with a method, apparatus and system for improving retrieving apparatus related data, allowing increased flexibility, safety, security, user friendliness and/or cost-effectiveness.